Wen Jiabao and Merkel Inspect Chinese and German Booths in Hannover Messe

2012/04/25

Opening a New Path of Cooperation in Green and Smart Sectors

--Wen Jiabao and Angela Merkel inspect Chinese and German booths in Hannover Messe

In the morning of April 23, local time, Premier Wen Jiabao and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the opening ceremony of the China central exhibition area in the Hannover Messe and then inspected the Chinese and German booths together.

Hannover Messe is the biggest and most important industrial fair in the world today. It is known as the "barometer of world industrial trends". The theme this year is "green and smart". Several thousands of exhibitors from more than 60 countries and regions will display their latest developments of industrial automation, power transmission and control, energy technology and digital industry.

Wen and Merkel first of all visited the China central exhibition area. In 1987, China attended the Hannover Messe in the capacity of partner country. 25 years later, China participated in the event again as the partner country. More than 500 Chinese companies are present at the event this year. 13 Chinese industrial enterprises set up booths in the central exhibition area to display their intelligent micro-network technology, dexterous robot hand, automotive lithium-ion battery, electric cars and hybrid cars and other technologies and products.

The two leaders showed strong interest in green energy technologies. At the booth of XJ Group, people of the company introduced the major progress of China's wind power equipment manufacturing technology. Merkel pointed out that technology of stable transmission and grid integration of wind power is the key. Wen told her that there are a number of wind farms in Inner Mongolia, China. The scene is very impressive. Wind power has great potential. We are now working to solve the issue of stable transmission and grid integration of wind power and increase the share of green energy. In front of the new energy FAW Red Flag sedan, Wen and Merkel listened to the R&D introduction of the company staff and then asked detailed questions about technical specifications, such as power and speed.

Smart technology is an important part of the exhibition of Chinese enterprises and a new key area of China-Germany cooperation. Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) displayed the technology of using the dexterous robot hand to replenish solar energy for the transport equipment. With deep interest, Merkel came up and shook hand with the robot hand which was jointly developed by China and Germany. The two prime ministers also discussed cooperation in the field of new energy and smart technology. Wen told Merkel that China has good cooperation with Germany in the area of space technology. During the launch of Shenzhou spacecraft, German experts were the only foreign experts invited to observe on the site. He also pointed at two commentators in the HIT booth, one Chinese and one German, and told Merkel that one of them is the teacher and the other is student.

Later, Wen and Merkel visited the booths of 7 German companies, including Siemens. In the Siemens booth, company staff introduced their new technologies, products development and growth in the Chinese market to Wen and Merkel. Wen said, "I see a lot of German in front of the Chinese booths and a lot of Chinese in front of the German booths as well. The relations between Chinese and German enterprises have grown so close and so inseparable."

A reporter asked the two prime ministers a question: "is cooperation between China and Germany really that important?" Merkel said the fact that so many German and Chinese companies gather together in the event demonstrates the importance of the bilateral cooperation. Wen said that China and Germany have joined hands in handling the international financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis. That has made us more convinced of the importance of the bilateral cooperation.

In the booth of Harerting, head of the company told Wen that it is a family business and has been passed to the third generation. His son has lived and worked in China for three years. Wen told the business owner that he has two homes. One is in Germany and the other is in China. China grants national treatment to all the German companies investing in China. We adhere to the policy of opening up and will continue to strengthen the protection of intellectual property right and boost technological innovation. China welcomes foreign companies, including German ones to invest and do business in China.

The two leaders also visited some German companies' booths to learn about the latest energy technologies developed in Germany. Wen said that China has two important energy sources, i.e. coal bed methane and biogas. Their potential is huge, but utilization is far from enough. If technological breakthroughs are achieved, they will be better used and greatly ease the energy supply and demand situation.

At the end of the inspection, Wen told the Chinese and German entrepreneurs that a solid foundation has been built for China-Germany cooperation. Green and smart industries are emerging all over the world. The bilateral cooperation in the green, environmentally friendly and smart industries just started and will display achievements in the future Hannover Messes. He hopes the two sides make concerted efforts to open new areas of mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation.